Shortyd83

I am beginning to plan a 2 week trip to Europe for my very first time. It will be myself and my husband and we are both 26 yrs old. We love adventure and exploring 'off the beaten path' areas. I do have family in Belgium so I know we will be visiting them at least for a few days. According to flight prices as of Oct 2010 we will probably fly into Amsterdam. I am very overwelmed on what to do and where to go.
As a clairification, we will be on the ground about 10 days-leaving a few days for air travel to and from the States.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you all in advance

lindy27

You could easily spend 10 day in Bergium and the Netherlands. Amsterdam deserves about 3 days. With only 10 days, including Belgium and Amsterdam, I would add maximum 1 other country, either France or Germany. If you can fly into Amsterdam and out of Paris, Paris might be a nice addition to your trip. 3 days Amsterdam, 3 days Belgium, 3 days Paris

If you can't fly out elsewhere I would stick with Belgium and the Netherlands, possibly with a stop in the area of Germany by Cologne.

zeppole

For most people posting on this board, and for many American tourists in general, Belgium itself is "off-the-beaten" path, and even more so if you go to places other than Bruges and Brussels.

I suggest you not shortchange Belgium, especially if you like food, beer and dessert, plus charming and quirky sightseeing.

suze

I think the biggest 'mistake' first timers make, at least from reading on this forum, is trying to do too much in too short of time. If you are flying into Amsterdam, I'd definitely spend 3-4 days there, then 3 days in Belgium... I say you only need 1 or at the most 2 more destinations. I'd definitely skip Italy this trip, that's spreading yourself too thin geographically speaking imo.

PalenQ

shorty - are you going by train or car? If by train I could make some rail-related comments.

Bruges IMO is the absolute highlight of Belgium - and for most Amsterdam needs about three full days - Germany is very close and Paris only about an hour now by bullet train from Brussels - or you can go direct from Bruges via Lille to Paris in about 2.5 hours.

So chose IMO either Germany or Paris a bit of France to go along with Belgium and Holland.

zeppole

I'm only returning to add there that while Bruges was the absolute highlight of PalenQs's Belgian journeys, for me it was kitchsy tourist central and I could not WAIT TO LEAVE.

I had a great time in Antwerp, and Amsterdam is a place you can really sink your teeth into -- unless you are going to Europe to see tourist sights. In that case, I guess Amsterdan "needs" about 3 days. I wouldn't know. I go to Amsterdam to enjoy a wonderful European city of tremendous character, not "sightsee."

Michel_Paris

I'd second the recommendation of not trying to stuff too much in. Plus your first day is a jet lag, orientation day, last day is getting to ariport, and every time there is a change in location there is time lost to the 'mechanics' of a new location.

I like to put the calendar on a sheet and fill in the days. Amsterdam would be ~3 days, Belgium for 3-4 days, Paris could be 4-5 days (and add some day trips possibly), then..almost used up those 2 weeks.

Shortyd83

@lindy27: We have not decided where to fly out of yet, but we are thinking we will probably have 2-one way flights so we can fly home from a different city than we fly into from.

@PalenQ: Because I am visiting family in Belgium (in a community SE from Brussels) we might travel by car. If/when we travel between cities/countries I am leaning towards the train. I have heard that is a great way to see the countryside as well as get to places quickly and easily.

I would like to see a few "touristy" places, but I really want to sink my teeth into the places we visit. I have been to places in Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean and have realized that you can really taste the culture if you go to the small "mom and pop" stores/resturants. I also like that "discovering" feeling when we are away from the big sightseeing places. I am not saying that I do not want to see places like the Grande Place in Brussels, or the Eiffel Tower in Paris, I just don't want that to be all we do/see.

I also want to add that my husband and I are both avid bicycle riders. I have read that Europe in general is an excellent place to ride bikes.

suze

<<probably have 2-one way flights so we can fly home from a different city>>

No(!) you likely don't want 2 one-way flights. You can book a round-trip ticket "open jaws" which gets you into one city and out of the other. Normally one-way flights are WAY more expensive!

FrenchMystiqueTours

Let me add something about cycling then, if you are an avid cyclist. I am also an avid cyclist living just outside Paris and I very regularly take my bike on the train and head out into the countryside from Paris. I have biked in the countryside around Paris in just about every direction you can think of and to guide me I need nothing more than a Michelin map with a scale of 1:200,000. I don't look for bike paths, I just stick to the small roads and I usually encounter very few cars. If you learn how to read Michelin maps and study all the symbols and indications to see what everything means you can plan scenic bike rides with next to no prior knowledge about where you are biking to. This method can be applied to any country.

Here are some tips on using the maps. Buy Michelin maps of the areas you want to visit. You want to get the ones with a scale of 1/150,000 or 1/200,000 (which are much more common). They are just loaded with information. Check the map legend to see what all the symbols represent and you'll notice all kinds of interesting things are marked on the map such as châteaux, ruins, churches, abbeys, scenic view points, megaliths (one of my personal favorites), caves, forests, war cemeteries, scenic roads and a whole host of other features. You may decide to take detours to see such sites or you may plan a route that includes these places on your trip. The roads that are highlighted in green are designated scenic roads. I usually plan a route that includes some combination of any/all of these features.

A couple of tips on Michelin maps. Pay attention to gradient arrows. One arrow superimposed on a road means gradient of 5% to 9%, 2 arrows from 9% to 13% and 3 arrows is greater than 13%. Areas shaded in white are generally flat to rolling terrain and areas shaded green are forested and/or hilly/mountainous. If a road twists and turns a lot that usually means hilly. Try to stick to the white roads as these have the least amount of traffic. Yellow roads are OK but carry more traffic. Try to avoid the red roads as these usually connect regional destinations and carry the most traffic. However, just because a road is red doesn't mean it will always have a lot of traffic. It varies. Often I'll approach a red road and see firsthand what the traffic is like and if it looks too busy then I'll find an alternate route.

One more resource you should be aware of is the tourist office. Any place worth visiting will have one. The first thing I do when arriving in a new place is head to the tourist office and get a map (usually free) of the place I am visiting. The tourist office is loaded with free info and brochures about what there is to see and do in a region. Most tourist offices have websites and sometimes they have English versions.

If you want a sample of some of the pleasures I have experienced riding in the countryside around Paris here is a link to a biking trip report I wrote. It is full of photos so you can see what I'm talking about. Included are medieval castles/donjons and churches, rustic ancient villages, beautiful countryside vistas, roman ruins and royal small cities.

http://tinyurl.com/334l4ao

iowamom

As suze correctly points out, you don't want 2 one-way flights... you want a <b> multi-city </b> round-trip ticket. It usually splits the difference in airfare between the roundtrip to and from City A and the roundtrip to and from City B.

nukesafe

I second suze's suggestion for an "open jaw" flight. Two one way fares would be much more expensive, I think. For example, I booked an open jaw into Paris and out of Amsterdam for next May. Our travelling companions booked a round trip flight into and out of Paris. Same flight going over, same airline, and our ticket was a few bucks cheaper. Go figure.

Anyway, see for yourself. Go to http://www.kayak.com/ and click on "Multi City", plug in your dates and see what fares you get compared to same city flights.

Have fun planning. We do!

Shortyd83

I guess I am unfamiliar with the term "open jaw" when it comes to flying.

zeppole

You like to cycle? Read to the end of this article, regarding Bruges:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/201...eaches-secrets

I am very glad to hear you will see the Grand Place in Brussels. Like Pisa in Italy, which is afflicted with mass tourism like flies and fleas, it is still a remarkably -- astoundingly -- beautiful place. A Grand Place, to be sure.

Mercifully, the Grand Place in Brussels retains virtually all of its original integrity, despite the presence of a few overpriced tourist bars. The Grand Place has always been -- since its conception -- a cosmopolitan gathering place, so the tourist bars are not a violation.

Anyway, you will find few poster on Fodor's more allergic to empty tourist targets than me. I highly recommend you go to the Grand Place and admire its unique prettiness -- beauty, I should say. It's so uplifting, tourists really haven't been able to spoil it. It's a pleasure to watch their eyes light up seeing it.

But I am equally glad you want to see everyday life in Europe -- and cycling is the way to go in Belgium and the lowland of the north, which are so comfortably flat!

suze

Shortyd~ Well, it's just as we all have described it above. You book the airfare into one city & out of a different one. Sometimes it is the same cost, sometimes a bit more, never as much as two 1-ways.

One trip I flew into Geneva, trained thru Switzerland to Venice, trained back to Paris, flew home from Paris. Same price as a round-trip Seattle/Paris/Seattle or Seattle/Geneva/Seattle would have been.

charnees

There is tons to see in Holland, too. Not just A-dam. Look at Maastricht, a neat little town near the German border, where there is interesting historical stuff to see, and a huge salt dome near town riddled with tunnels where people have lived and taken refuge from war for centuries. You can take a tour.

You can go to the national park called the Hoge Velouwe (sp.) where there is a good art museum (Kroller-Meuller?) with van Goghs, and lots of walking and biking paths. I recall there are white bikes at park entrances that you can just take and use, and return them when you are done. sorry my memory is lacking about the name of those places.

We liked Utrecht a lot -- a university town, very pretty.

Holland is so flat you can ride bikes all over the place.

spaarne

Ditto suze and zeppole. I would stick to Holland, France, and a bit of Belgium. Skip Germany and especially Italy for only a 10 day trip. Holland is the best place on the planet for bicyclers. There are bicycle paths throughout the country. You don't say when you are going but Spring is best in Holland. See my photo log of a bike trip through the tulip fields of Holland, http://tinyurl.com/y8hltjl.

PeaceOut

We loved Amsterdam, for our 5 night stay at the Hotel Residence le Coin. What a charming, friendly, and clean city. We adored it.

I also suggest you visit Paris after Belgium. We had taken the train to Amsterdam from Paris, which was very easy and not that expensive.

PalenQ

If/when we travel between cities/countries I am leaning towards the train. I have heard that is a great way to see the countryside as well as get to places quickly and easily.?

If you travel very much by train then at least consider the Benelux-France railpass, valid on all trains in Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg and France. But the efficacy of the pass depends on how many days of train travel you envision as the more days pass you buy the cheaper per day it is. And I highly encourage first-class rail travel for a much more leisurely experience - especially in Belgium and Holland where IME 2nd class cars can at times be SRO. Last Dec I took an IC train from Brussels to Amsterdam and 2nd class was SRO by the time the train got to Antwerp - yet in first class there were many empty seats - you can put your luggage usually on an adjoining empty seat, etc and seats are larger and more comfy.